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Lyon

So, flying from Nairobi to London last night it soon became obvious that the UK was having another weather nightmare. We made an early decision to divert to Lyon, in France rather than continue and simply end up somewhere like Glasgow two hours later.

We are the first Virgin Atlantic aircraft they’ve seen here and nine other aircraft diverted in as well, so it took a couple of hours to get everybody off the aircraft and on the way to a hotel. Some passengers without visas have had to stay in the terminal…

The local handling agent, Aviapartner, has been excellent, despite the company not having an agreement with them. The hotel, Mercure, has also been very good and have been a great deal of help.

Heathrow isn’t going to reopen until at least midnight tonight, Sunday, so I’m now off to the airport to try and get the bags out of the hold and into the hands of the passengers and crew. Wish me luck!



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Final Harrier Flights

I’ve put together a short (2 min) video of some of the flying at RAF Cottesmore yesterday, 15 December 2010. These were the final flights of the Harrier in RAF and RN service.

Download now or watch on posterous
   <b><a href='http://posterous.com/getfile/files.posterous.com/temp-2010-12-16/oIIriujhHypaaprajfAlHdpjqiwACHgutlwucoFsbAifvvewIdncJBwsmbnx/2010_Final_Harrier_Flights_web.m4v' style='color: #bc7134;'>2010_Final_Harrier_Flights_web.m4v</a></b> <span style="font-size: 10px; color: #424037;">(24161 KB)</span>       <br style="clear: both;"/></div>      </p></div>